MLG Pro Circuit Goes to Washington

Halo: Reach makes its MLG debut.

The inaugural Halo: Reach MLG Pro Circuit goes down this weekend in Washington, D.C. and spectators get in for free. If you can't make itit out, you can watch for free from the web. Details at the link below.

Game For a Cure

Play Reach and raise money for research. Win/Win.

HBO isn't all fun and games. They're also offering fun and games with a side of goodwill. If you're a good person, hit the link below to see how you can help. If you don't have the dollars to dole out, you can still help spread the word.

Domino's Grab Bag Giveaways

With a side of Devin.

Looks like two community compatriots are giving away goodies over at HBO this morning. If you want in on the cash and prizes (there's not really any cash), hop on over and see how you can stumble into some sweet swag. Free stuff!

'Coexistence' - A Halo: Reach Montage

Can't we all just get along? These guys are the bestest of friends. Check out their montage.

"This is a Halo: Reach dualtage from Just Mad and Cray entitled, 'Coexistence.' It features about a week's worth of gameplay, and for only a week's worth, the footage is pretty sick, showcasing a nice sniper killtrocity on Pinnacle and a nice oddball killtrastrophe right afterward. The editing and the song are just the way I like it: Minimal and relaxed. Enjoy!"

Forging Maps, One Step at a Time

Forward Unto Dawn and GhaleonEB have launched Forging Ahead, a blog focusing on the nuts and bolts of map construction in Reach's Forge mode, from the initial design concepts on through to final play testing.
Covering both Forging mechanics and map design philosophies and strategies, the series is a detailed look at what goes into creating maps using Bungie's object editor.

Tag and Release - Falcon

From on high.

This week's Tag and Release takes to the skies to focus on the UNSC's aerial ass kicker, the Falcon. Whether you need fast transport or some honest to goodness air support, the Falcon has you covered. Check out the damage we did with a quick strafing run though the Halo: Reach screenshot collection.

Got a nasty fear of heights? Transport yourself directly into our full collection of community screenshots by hitting up the Halo: Reach File Search page. From there you can find anything you're looking for, right from the comfort of your own first floor living room.

KayEmX's and FKIV's Halo: Reach Dualtage

"This is a short Halo: Reach dualtage from KayEmX and FKIV, thrown together by KayEmX in about an hour. The editing isn't the best, but the gameplay's pretty sweet, showcasing some nice triples and overkills. Enjoy!"

'Hold Your Color' - A Halo: Reach Minitage

I think the intro might be the longest segment, but the rest is fast paced and timed nicely. Check it out.

"This is a Halo: Reach minitage from Smite, put together by himself, entitled, 'Hold Your Color.' The gameplay's decent, showcasing a good amount of solid triples, and the editing features some nice theater work and syncing. Enjoy!"

ChrisOfTheDead’s: Shenanigans 10

Looks like tomfoolery to me, but who am I to judge. Potential campaign location spoilers inside.

"When I first started throwing clips of comedic Halo 3 happening to music that I was hoping wouldn’t make people want to gouge out their eardrums, I never imagined I would get to a 10th installment! But here it is! Shenanigans 10! Get your fix of Halo community comedy! Now in a brand new Reach flavor! (Still wish I could come up with some more puns off of my gamertag.) Keep the comedy coming Halo players!"

HMV Hell Reach Machinima

"HollywoodHalo (known for their Machinimas Frequency, 10 Ways to tell if you're a Noob, and HMV Hell) releases their first full Halo Reach Machinima and their third installment of the 'HMV Hell' series starting back in Halo 2. This installment, entitled HMV Hell Reach; is a mash-up montage of short, would-be music videos edited in a comedic and dramatic style.

The HMV Hell Reach project was created by Bryan Smith (Gamertag: imSuck) with help of over 30 friends. It took just over 17 days to complete, and weighs in at around 8 minutes in length.

The best part about HMV Hell Reach is that is was made with 100% Bungie Pro footage. This means that every clip you see was filmed in the Halo Reach theater and rendered using Bungie Pro's rendering service. There was absolutely NO capture card or special hardware used in the creation of this movie.

A full list of music credits (ALL of the songs used), actor credits and the software used can be found in the credits of the movie at the end. Make sure you watch until the end! You can also check out all of the past HMV Hell installments at HMVHell.com as well as read more about the series, actors and music.

Halo: Reach October Playlist Update

Our first Halo: Reach post-launch playlist update has been successfully deployed to Xbox LIVE. This update addresses a variety of issues in addition to tweaking some of the existing core gametypes and playlists.

Please note that this is just the first of many updates. Our team continues to work on improving the Reach online experience and we're always listening to your feedback and reviewing the voting and game data we get from our servers. Reach will just keep getting better! As always, we welcome your feedback in our Optimatch forum here on Bungie.net.

Also note that we have another small update happening later this month (either 10/12 or 10/19 pending final test pass) that will enable campaign matchmaking. And for everyone out there who doesn't love Infection as much as the rest of the players, don't fret, we have plans to move Infection into its own "Living Dead" playlist later this month.

Lastly, in addition to everything listed below, today's update also makes some tweaks to the betrayal system. Hopefully players will feel it's a bit more 'fair' now and it shoudl behave closer to what you're used to in Halo 3.

Arena Zealot (New!)
* Added a softkill zone to the space area
* Modified initial spawns so enemies cannot see each other

Zealot
* Objects can no longer be dropped into the boot_base

Asylum
* Removed multiple duplicate Headhunter score zones

Boneyard
* Changed the base object for territories from a hill marker to a flag stand
* Objects can no longer come to rest on the out of bounds cliff behind the scaffolding where the Invasion core is captured
* Players can no longer sit in the out of bounds area under the ship scaffolding

King of the Hill
* Teams are now always able to correctly score points
* Players standing in the hill no longer receive extra points upon returning from a host migration

Rocket Race
* Players now attached to vehicles after being on foot for 10 seconds
* Flipped vehicles will be detected to prevent players from attaching to a non-upright vehicle
* Added functionality for tracking and reporting rotations
* Fountain of Mongeese should no longer be possible (don't ask)
* Players are no longer able to jack another teams Mongoose
* Players are no longer forced into a specific role of driver or gunner
* All players start with a Rocket Launcher
* Players move at 50% speed, do significantly reduced damage and are marked with a nav icon
* Players on foot are now able to score points in Rocket Race

Juggernaut
* The Juggernaut no longer sees other players as allies upon returning from a host migration
* New clients after a host migration will no longer lose their Juggernaut status

Territories
* All teams now have separate capture timers for each territory
* Locked territories will no longer prevent players from using equipment
* The flag in the territory is now attached if the territory is a flag stand object
* Added a HUD_Widget to display contested status to players inside a territory
* The progress bar for a territory will now show as full when that territory is being contested (capture progress is saved and will appear again once the territory is no longer contested)
* Random flag clothes will no longer disappear after a round transition

Oddball
* Bombs in Hot Potato now properly report carry time
* Multiple hot potato bombs will no longer spawn in the same location
* The carry time reported stat will now always be correct after a host migration has occurred
* Players carrying the oddball during a host migration will no longer receive extra points

Stockpile
* All stockpile flags are now attached to their spawn location if it is a flag stand

Invasion
* The game score is now set per frame tick based off of the current phase
* A failsafe game end timer has been added to catch any possible bad cases of Invasion games not ending properly

Invasion: Boneyard
* The core will now reset whenever it is thrown through a shield door into a spawning location in Phase 3

Tag and Release: Assassinate

Up close and personal.

This week we dive into the Reach screenshot gallery in search of some epic knife stabs, face stomps and neck snaps. To broaden our search and find the maximum amount of kick ass imagery, I tried to two different tags.

Halo: Reach Bungie Employee Bloopers

"We're just getting started. Hello, Bungie Community! Bungie is back and Halo Reach is out. What does that mean? More mishaps, bloopers and laughs! See how Ske7ch causes his teammate to commit suicide twice in a row while trying to respawn, or how Kapture24 gets sniped by his own teammate while assassinating a rival! Or maybe how VanDamnaged hits a 'Bird' while riding his Banshee. That and much more, so sit back, relax, laugh, but most importantly enjoy!"